Whew! That seems like a lot of steps, but it basically boils down to being gentle on my hair and avoiding unnecessary damage. People always want to know how to make their hair healthier, but the first step is just letting it be itself more naturally, less washes, less products, less heat, etc. Rather than trying to correct problems with a lot of products I just try to be gentle with my hair. I’ve done a lot of damage to my hair in the past with bleach and wild colors, but I’ve always managed to get it back not with products or pills, but simple, everyday care steps. Your hair might need different steps or just slightly different versions of these steps, so keep in mind the trick isn’t to copy everything I do but pay attention to what your hair responds to.

I don’t do many beauty posts because I honestly don’t change up my beauty routine much at all. The core of my nightly routine is the same Clinique 3-Step system I’ve been using since I was a teenager! So while I can talk about clothes, shoes, and books until I get blue in the face and never run out of material—beauty posts eventually start to be a bit repetitive. I also don’t like to talk about things I’m trying until I’ve really had a chance to experiment with them and know they work for me. It’s why you also almost never see paid beauty posts on my blog because the brands that approach me are unfamiliar to me and they aren’t usually open to a trial period of a few months before a post! Still got my fingers crossed a few of my favorite beauty brands will approach me one day because that would be a dream…But I digress from the point, which is: here’s a beauty post with a few of my tied and tested favorites from the past year!
Pixi Overnight Glow Serum: This product is my top buy from 2018. It has honestly saved my skin. I’ve really struggled with pimples more as an adult than as a teenager and would get really bad hormonal break-outs every month. My skin would also be very slow to recover so my blemishes would really linger for ages. I read an article about break-outs as an adult (honestly I probably read a dozen articles looking for a solution) and one recommended using a chemical exfoliant and linked to Pixi’s glow serum. I bought one and it has honestly transformed my skin. I haven’t had any major break-outs since I started using this serum and when I do start to have a blemish, this helps it clear up in half the time it would normally. So hand’s down my best beauty buy of 2018, but it’s also making me realize that my skin isn’t the same as it was in my teens or even twenties. Adding this to my routine and having it work miracles on my skin is making me realize I should really be more thoughtful in the other steps of my skin care regime. I don’t want an overly complicated daily routine, but as my skin has changed over the years, the products I use on it should probably adapt as well.
Tarte shape tape: I've played around with a few different concealers/foundations over the years and this one is hand's down my favorite that I've ever tried. It doesn't make my skin break-out, it stays put all day, and actually comes in a light enough shade to match my skin tone! Finding a pale concealer or foundation, especially one with a neutral base (vs a pinkish base) is a real struggle for me, so this concealer is a dream for me.
Tarte Rainforest of the Sea cleansing gel: After falling in love with Tarte’s shape tape, I started to try a few more products from that brand and now half of my makeup bag is Tarte products! I have fairly sensitive skin, so when I find a brand that my skin agrees with I tend to really lean into it--now I have some very necessary mermaid makeup brushes and this cleansing gel. The makeup brushes don’t get a lot of use, but this cleansing gel is lovely! It makes my skin feel very clean and fresh and doesn't dry it out. I'm not a big experimenter, so it's lovely to find a brand that just works for me and it's nice trying different products from the same brand but still having good results.
My two favorite nail polishes: I think I only wore three nail polish colors for the whole of 2018—this neutral shade, this burnt orange color, and red around Christmas. Post-Christmas I’m already back to the burnt orange color (Playing Koi by Essie); on the nails it’s actually a bit darker than my ideal color but is the closest to a perfect rust tone I covet. When I was younger I loved painting my nails and would even sport multiple colors on multiple fingers, but these days I like nails to be the subtle polish (pun intended) to a look rather than a main feature. I like colors that generally match with all my outfits and don’t distract from them, so in spring a perfect light neutral, specifically Maybelline's Second Skin (a lovely not too pink shade) works and in winter a cozier rust-y shade that matches 99% of my wardrobe.

I have been really lazy with styling my hair lately! I basically do my overnight curling technique and then brush in the morning and go. If I feel like putting extra effort in I throw on a beret or put my hair in a half up-do and call it day. So lazy! Part of the reason I'm keeping my hair long right now is so that I can do fun hair styles, but I haven't really been doing any. So last Wednesday I basically made myself do something different and came up with these messy fishtail pigtails. I loved how they looked during the day and later in the evening I pinned them up into milkmaid braids when I was doing chores around the house. The style got a lot of positive feedback on Instagram so I thought I'd do a quick tutorial for you showing how to make these braids for yourself. Fishtails are an easy, but intimidating style and can be mastered with practice and patience. A great way to do fishtails if you're still learning is to aim for a messy style where your mistakes are less obvious!

Step one: start by dividing your hair into two pigtails and tie off with hair elastics.
Step two: a fishtail braid is a two strand braid. divide your pigtail into two sections.
Step three: take a small piece of hair from the outside of your right section and add it to the left, pull tight.
Step four: take a small piece of hair from the outside of your left section and add to the right, pull tight.
Step five: keep repeating these steps, taking one section of hair from the outside of one side and adding it to the other, pull tight after each added piece until you reach the ends. tie off with a hair elastic. don't worry too much if your pieces are even or perfect because we're going to mess them up later.
Step six: repeat the same two strand braiding method on your other pigtail. tie off with a hair elastic.
Step seven: mess them up! start pancaking your braids and pulling them apart for a fuller, messier look.
That's it! This is one way to wear your fishtail braids. Add a beret, or skip the accessories and go out with your fishtail pigtails. The pancaking in the final step will give your braids a fun and thicker look, although you can also skip this step if you prefer neater, tighter braids.

For style two grab a few bobby pins and pin your braids on top of your head into a milkmaid braid. Start by pinning one side flat and then adding the second side and tucking the ends of your braids underneath. Different from regular milkmaid braids the fishtails give this look a lot of texture and movement.

I try to experiment with fashion when I can, I've cut and dyed my hair in nearly every imaginable way, but when it comes to makeup I tend to play it pretty safe. The same winged eyeliner every day and a simple coral or red lipstick. It hasn't really changed since I started wearing makeup in college and while I do like my everyday look I sometimes wish I had a reason to try something new. So when Ink of Elation (a cruelty-free beauty line) offered to send me their coffret of liquid matte lipsticks I was excited for the chance to try some colors outside of my comfort zone. After testing them out I'm surprised to admit as well my favorite colors in the collection are ones I never would have picked out for myself! Sienna is a burnt amber shade not too different from my hair color. If I saw it in the store I would immediately pass it by, but now that I've tried it I'm a bit addicted. It feels perfectly autumnal and it actually works with my coloring, which I never would have guessed! Another surprising twist the Pash (a dark cherry brown) and Mezzanotte described as blackberry that comes out almost black on me; both give me very Halloween-y vibes. From the more traditional colors my favorites are: Cleo a perfect orangey-red and Madrid a deeper wine red. I still haven't given up my standard eyeliner and blush combo, but it has been very fun trying out some new lip colors and get outside of my comfort zone a bit.

One of the hairstyles I always wanted to learn once my hair got longer/I learned how to do braids was fishtail braids. It always looked really cool and much more interesting than a classic three strand braid. When I finally learned it I realized that fishtail braids were not super difficult, but they were so slow! Maybe I'm just weak, but my arms always get so tired when I try to do a fishtail braid. However, I have since learned that there are many faux braid work-arounds that help me get the same look as classic braid styles, but in half the time. This is one of those faux braid looks.   Step one: divide your hair into two even sections and tie off with elastics.
Step two: make an opening above your elastic and flip your hair up and through that opening. You're basically doing a "topsy-turvy" ponytail.
Step three: tie a second hair elastic a couple of inches below your first.
Step four: make an opening above the elastic and flip your hair up and through. Pull tight.
Step five: add another hair elastic and keep repeating until you get to the ends of your hair.

It's just a series of ponytails so it's sooo much easier and faster than doing actual fishtail braids! But the process gives each loop a textured look similar to fishtail braids which I really like; I'm all about fun textures and volume with my hairstyles. You can pull this off with shorter hair as well--just look at this older post of me wearing this hairstyle.

You can see in the sixth picture of the graph what my hair looks like when I go to sleep and the next picture shows the roll when I wake up--a lot looser and messier! Then my hair comes out of the loop looking like the first picture above; pretty serious ringlets. You can leave your hair in those curls, or use a gentle brush (I have a tangle teezer) to brush your curls out for more of a full/bouncy look like my usual style. Anytime you see my hair looking wavy or curly, this is the technique I use. Now that I do it so often I have it down pat and can whip my hair up in less than five minutes and then wake up with the waves of my dreams! I don't use any products (no mousse or hairspray) and my waves last all day long; I love that I can still brush my hair and run my fingers through it with this style. 

P.S. Any wired headband, or even a scarf tired in a loop will do--I don't recommend a specific brand or shop; just google wired headband. 

Today I'm sharing four easy hair styles you can achieve with hair sticks, wooden hair sticks to be specific. Saya Designs makes their wooden hairpins from tree roots salvaged from old plantations in Indonesia. The roots are left behind by loggers harvesting the trees, they take hundreds of years to decompose and have little value for the soil. Not only is the wood Saya uses recycled, but they also plant trees for every hair pin purchased. For example, if you purchase the Chanang hair fork, they will plant 10 trees. In addition to doing good for the environment, these wooden hair pins are actually good for your hair health as well; the wood holds the natural oils in your hair and helps reduce breakage and damage compared to elastics. All that to say: I was very excited to receive a few hair pins from Saya Designs a few weeks ago and I've been playing with them ever since. They're really versatile little tools that can be used in a variety of ways.
This elegant braided updo is actually surprisingly easy, especially when you use a hair fork to hold everything in place. Instead of a mountain of bobby pins, one large hair stick or comb and your braid stays put. In fact, there's only three simple steps to achieve this style.
Step one: Start by braiding your hair into a single, three strand braid and tie off with an elastic.
Step two: Lift your braid up and tuck the end of your braid underneath.
Step three: Take your hair stick and weave it into the braid and hair at your scalp.
That's it! A very elegant style that takes minimal effort. I used the Barrette style hair fork in recycled rosewood roots for this tutorial. I like the natural streaks of color in the rosewood and how close that color matches my own. For more sophisticated hair styles it's always smart to go with matching hair accessories rather than contrasting ones; even a ponytail looks classier and more professional when your elastic is hidden or matches your hair color. Half up dos are always one of my most requested hair tutorial styles to do, so I'm always trying to think of new styles. This style is very simple and uses the Barrette style hair fork again. I found the Barrette Style a great alternative for bobby pins; so any hair style I would normally use a lot of bobby pins to hold in place I tried the Barrette hair fork instead.
Step one: take a small section of hair from either side of your face and twist them.
Step two: take the two twists and tie them together like you're tying a shoelace.
Step three: take your hair fork and insert it down through your twists and into the hair at your scalp.
Again, very simple and one tool to keep your hair style in place. From the front you can just see the hair fork peaking out like a bow.
Step one: take a small section of hair from the top of your head and twist it into a basic bun.
Step two: place the wooden loop over your bun.
Step three: slide the hair stick through your bun.
This is the Moonflower hair slide in recycled teak and while you can use it to hold a larger bun in place, I like the way it looks with a little half bun. The shape of the slide and twisted bun does look like a flower to me and I like the way the hair stick peeks out a bit from the front. It's a bit more sophisticated than your basic, messy half bun, but not too dressy that you can't wear this style every day. 
For this style I used a hair stick as an accent piece rather than to hold the style together. In addition, to being able to hold your hair in different styles, hair sticks can also just be used decoratively.
Step one: leaving two small sections of hair loose on either side of your face, tie the rest of your hair back into a low ponytail.
Step two: loop one side of hair around your ponytail, then the other side. Secure them in place with a bobby pin.
Step three: Slide your hair stick through the loop above your ponytail.
I like the way this one looks like the hair stick is holding the style together, but it's really just there to look pretty! This is the Soka Bud hair stick in recycled rosewood. I would normally add a bow or flower to a messy ponytail style like this, but the hair stick is a less "girly" alternative.
P.S. Need more inspiration? Saya Designs also has a section on their site with hair tutorials for a variety of hair sticks and hair lengths--so there's probably a useful tutorial there if your hair is shorter or longer than mine!

That's it! It's very simple, but looks very fun and gets better as the day goes on and the loops get messier and looser. This is also a great style to mix and match with other details--you can braid some of your loops to give the look more texture or start off with this technique and then gather the rest of your hair up in a big, messy braid. That's really the fun about learning different hair styles--finding interesting ways to combine them and make something all your own.

If there's one hairstyle that dominates summer it has to be the classic ponytail. It's so easy and perfect in hot weather conditions. I'm quite partial for just putting a bow on my ponytails and calling it a day, but if you want to be more adventurous than that, today's style is still terrifically easy while also being quite fresh and trendy this season. It's the perfect style to try out on your next holiday or whenever you want to mix things up a bit. 
Step one: start by gathering all of your hair into a ponytail.
Step two: tie a second elastic around your ponytail a few inches below your first elastic.
Step three: pull and tease the hair between the two elastics for a fuller look.
Step four: repeat the steps above by tying a third elastic a few inches below your last one. Again, tease and pull the hair between the two elastics to form a "bubble" in your ponytail.
Step five: repeat as many times as you can or want along your ponytail. I really like three large bubbles in mine, but you could also opt for less teasing an more bubbles. 
That's it! Super easy, but also pretty cute and fun. You can dress this style up as well with pretty ribbons at each elastic or double the look up and make bubble pigtails. I've seen the latter style a lot on Instagram lately and it looks really cute when the pigtails are low and styled with a straw hat--maybe a style I need to try out myself next!

After I wore this hairstyle in Spain last month I received a couple of requests for how to achieve this style, so here's a quick little tutorial for you. The braids mimic a bit of headband look and it's a very easy style to do--perfect for if you're on holiday, or just add some spice to your regular routine. I like the way it adds a bit of a boho feel to any outfit.
Step one: Take two small sections from either side of your head and braid them. I like to select sections towards the bottom of my hair so they're more hidden.
Step two: Pancake the braids for a slightly fuller look.
Step three: Take one braid across the top of your head and pin it. Repeat with the other braid, tucking the ends underneath and hiding the bobby pins as best you can.  
Super, super easy, no? I only use a small section of hair for my braids so that I won't lose much fullness and then pancake the braids to give them more "umph." 

I asked on Instagram recently what hair styles people would like a tutorial for and I was a bit surprised that this style--milkmaid braids--was highly requested! It is a classic style and super easy, so I was happy to oblige with a tutorial, especially since this is a style I wear far too often. I think it's my default hair style after wearing my hair down/doing nothing.
Step one: divide your hair into two even sections.
Step two: braid one side into a simple three strand braid, tie off with an elastic. Pancake your braid for a fuller look.
Step three: repeat on the other side.
Step four: take one braid and use a few bobby pins to pin into place. Take the second braid, tucking the end underneath the first and pin in place. 
It's actually hard to write instructions for this braid style because it's so easy. It's just: braid your hair, stick a few bobby pins on top of your head and you're done! I always had shorter hair growing up so I never learned how to braid until I was in my twenties and this is first braiding style I mastered. Many years later it's still one of my favorite styles. You can mix it up with different types of braids like rope braids or fishtail braids, but this classic will never go out of style and is perfect for spring and summer.

It's been awhile since I did a hair tutorial, but as my hair is getting longer and we're heading towards warmer months (fingers crossed anyway!) I'm getting excited to play with my hair more and try out some new styles. Today's style isn't new for me, but rather a favorite and I'm not really sure what to call this braid other than one of my favorite styles--it's soft and romantic and like so many of my styles--super easy! Step one: keep a small section of hair free on either side of your head and tie the rest of your hair back into a simple low ponytail.
Step two: braid your ponytail and tie off with an elastic.
Step three: pancake and pull apart your braid until it is very full and loose.
Step four: take the section of hair on your left side and loop it loosely around the top of your ponytail and pin in place.
Step five: repeat on the right side.
That's it! Add a silky bow and your braid is soft, sophisticated perfection! The extra bits of hair at the top just add a very loose and soft look to the braid and make it a bit more chic than when the elastic is visible. I love this braid because it's so simple, but feels and looks so romantic and pretty.